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Marc Marquez won his third race of the season after he piled pressure onto Francesco Bagnaia all race long. The Italian crashed late on which handed the title to Fabio Quartararo at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
The faultless Frenchman became the first French premier-class champion and clinches Yamaha’s first title since Jorge Lorenzo in 2015.
Avintia’s Enea Bastianini’s brilliance saw the Italian come from 16th to finish third and score his second podium of the season.
Starting Grid
After a stellar performance in Saturday’s qualifying session, Francesco Bagnaia started this crucial race from pole position ahead of his Ducati teammate Jack Miller in second and Luca Marini in third.
On row two, Pol Espargaro started from fourth ahead of Miguel Oliviera and Factory Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli in sixth. Marc Marquez fronted row three in seventh with Iker Lecuona in eighth and Danilo Petrucci in ninth.
Johann Zarco started 10th and was joined on row four by Aleix Espargaro and Pramac’s Jorge Martin. Spanish duo Alex Rins and Alex Marquez fronted row five with Quartararo in 15th, the Frenchman’s worst qualifying of the season.
Bastianini started from 16th and lined up on row six with Takaaki Nakagami and Joan Mir. On row seven, Maverick Vinales started 19th with Sepang Racing Team’s Andrea Dovizioso in 21st.
On the final row of the grid, Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro started 22th ahead of Valentino Rossi in 23rd and Brad Binder in 24th.
Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori was ruled out of action on Saturday after sustaining a broken collarbone in FP3.
As It Happened
Off the line, it was Miller who got the best start, however, Bagnaia led into turn one ahead of Oliviera. Third-placed Marini fell to seventh through the tight first chicane.
Miller made an early move back into second at turn four as he slotted his Ducati up the inside of Oliviera. The KTM man dropped down another place as Marc Marquez moved up to third.
At the end of lap one, it was Bagnaia who led ahead of Miller in second and Marc Marquez in third. Quartararo, despite a poor start, got up to 14th by the end of the first lap.
Pol Espargaro was next to overtake Oliviera as the Spaniard claimed fourth place as he looked to chase after Marc Marquez.
Mir and Petrucci became the first riders to retire from the race as the pair collided on lap three and crashed out of the race.
Ducati’s race strategy was going well early on as Miller fended off Marc Marquez which saw Bagnaia defend his lead. However, on lap four, the Aussie became the next victim to be caught out at the tricky turn 15 as he lost the front and crashed out of the Grand Prix.
Miller’s retirement promoted Pol Espargaro into the podium places and saw Quartararo break into the top 10 on lap six.
Quartararo was quick to move Martin aside and get into ninth position as he made a tidy move on the Spaniard at turn six on lap nine.
After Nakagami and Lecuona’s tumbles, 10th placed Martin became the next rider to crash out of the race after losing the front on lap 13.
Two laps later, Morbidelli made no attempt to defend against his charging teammate as Quartararo moved up to eighth. The Frenchman instantly went for more as he made a move on Marini but was unable to make it stick. However, Quartararo was able to gain the position on lap 15 and clinched seventh place.
On the charge too was Bagnaia, as he set the race’s new fastest lap on lap 16 and tried to pull away from the menacing Marc Marquez.
Quartararo made the move up to sixth place as he breezed past Suzuki’s Rins. A lap later, Aleix Espargaro ran wide into turn 10 which allowed Quartararo to pounce and move into fifth.
In the race’s final few laps, Marquez dropped back and it looked like Bagnaia would cruise home to victory. However, the Italian was caught out by turn 15 and crashed out of the lead. A mirror of his teammate’s crash on lap four, he tumbled into the gravel handed the 2021 title to Quartararo.
Amidst the retirement of Bagnaia, Oliviera also crashed out of the race which saw the newly-crowned MotoGP champion move up to third with Bastianini closing in at a rate of knots.
On the final lap, Bastianini was all over Quartararo’s rear tyre and made a bold dive up the inside at turn 14 to claim third place. Rossi also made a late move as he pipped Binder to 10th place at the final corner.
In the end, it was Marc Marquez who took victory at Misano ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate Pol Espargaro. The Spaniards seal Repsol Honda’s first 1-2 finish since the Aragon Grand Prix in 2017.
Bastianini’s brilliant race saw him make moves and pick up the pieces where necessary as he claimed his second podium of the season.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Quartararo, Zarco, Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Vinales, Marini and Rossi in 10th.
Bagnaia’s retirement saw Quartararo take the title with the gap standing at 68 points with just 50 points left available.
Quartararo got the celebrations started trackside as the emotional Frenchman held the French Tricolore aloft as well as wearing a golden helmet under a blue smoke hue and a firework display.
What’s Next?
MotoGP takes a two-week break before returning to the popular Portimao Circuit for the Algarve Grand Prix. Quartararo will hope to replicate his heroics of the Portuguese Grand Prix and clinch his sixth win of the season.
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